The famous Twitch streamer Sodapoppin has been banned from the platform. A clip from his stream, which indicates the speculated reason for the ban, shows him painting a video game character black. He then explains his behavior on Reddit.
Why was he banned? Sodapoppin played a game during a livestream on Twitch. There he was able to “paint” the face of the video game character with makeup.
Sodapoppin chose a dark brown-black shade and painted the entire face of the character. In the meantime, he uttered the word “Blackface” without a coherent sentence.
This clip is now circulating on the internet with the suspicion that Sodapoppin was banned for exhibiting the racist act of blackfacing through the video game character. (Clip of the incident via Livestreamfails.com)
Blackfacing is a term from the U.S. that describes an act of darkening one’s face. The term dates back to the minstrel show of the 18th and 19th centuries, where a white person would paint their face with shoe polish and accentuated thick red lips. Such shows have been considered racist since the early 20th century.
Sodapoppin’s statement on Reddit
What does Sodapoppin say about the incident? In a statement on Reddit, Sodapoppin stated that he did not intend to act racially. He did not want it to sound or look that way.
My brain doesn’t really think beyond that when I’m streaming. I’m just trying to paint a potato. In hindsight, I see how that is. It’s like extreme blackface. I didn’t want it to sound/look racist, but yeah, I was just naive and didn’t realize how the mouth would relate to the skin, etc.
Sodapoppin via Reddit
In the statement, Sodapoppin mentions that he thought about the comic and toy character Mr. Potato Head, which is particularly known from the children’s movie Toy Story, when he shaped the character. He explained his further actions as follows:
- Only during the painting did he realize that he could only paint the face.
- He then realized that he was painting a so-called blackface.
- Sodapoppin continued to think it was just a harmless mistake.
- He then added an exaggerated smile with red lipstick to the face.
- Sodapoppin did not realize that the face would appear even more racist with lipstick.
How long is Sodapoppin banned? Sodapoppin’s ban is indefinite. As long as the ban is not lifted, he cannot stream on Twitch.
The current ban is already the second suspension that Sodapoppin has faced on Twitch. He was previously banned in 2020 for nudity but was unbanned just a day later.
Everything about Sodapoppin’s first Twitch ban can be read on MeinMMO:
Tens of thousands laugh at the ban of a Twitch star who got lost in a sex dungeon
